Sunday, 30 May 2010

Akira The Don is back with an equally funny, enjoyable and bumpable mixtape, sampling from all of the in-game music from the original Street Fighter games. He makes them his own and it pays homage correctly to one of the most successful gaming franchises on the planet.

Completely free and from his official website, he has more links to more material at his official website www.akirathedon.com but here's a direct link from his site to the download, enjoy this possibly while being a geek in your bedroom jizzing over pictures of Lara Croft, or by simply not being a geek and doing drive-bys at your local Co-Op or John Menzies.

Full listing and artwork in with the link, don't muck about, become Ryu and bump your neck.

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

So...Sway has done a dance record. Nothing wrong with that you'd say. To be honest, the song is't horrific or anything like that either. But there's a growing trend in the UK that if you're a rapper you have to throw a beat that was made at Wigan Pier behind your tracks just to get some success. For years now there have been countless forays into the dance scene for old, washed up r'n'b singers and a few rappers too, but recently UK hip-hop seems to have been struck with the cancer and its not good for the scene at all.

Personally I love the mixing of genres, the furrowing of new niche markets and the experimentation of artists, but when its done so shamelessly and obviously to generate money with no thought given to the quality control of the output and the integrity of the artist's product it really gets on my little "there-because-I-haven't-played-football-in-a-while" man tits.

Sway is probably the brightest star of UK hip-hop. Thats not even an understatement either. He's possibly not THE best UK artist there is, with the greatest discography or the greatest ability (although both are quite strong and it could be argued he is the best UK emcee right now), but there isn't an emcee from the UK right now with more potential to succeed than Sway. Dasafo could be big....and by big I mean the whole "break America, global stardom beckons" kind of big. Seriously.

Sway is probably the only artist aside from Dizzee (who has already suceeded in getting global mainstream exposure) from the UK rap scene who has the ability and potential to both stay true to his roots in both rap and grime scenes whilst simultaneously straddling the arse of the mainstream and riding it raw until he falls off in retirement with classic albums and international adulation in tow.

Thats what makes this a bit irritating, I feel like this track is a bit of a cop out. I sincerely hope its not a sign of things to come from Sway, but when you have Roll Deep (admittedly a group who were by and large a bit pants to start with) sitting in number one with a horrendous and shameless attempt at dance music, Tinie Tempah following up his "Pass Out" track with his won attempt which will undoubtedly be huge, and even sad R'n'B artists like Taio Cruz jumping on the bandwagon by doing a song with that slag Ke$ha (who looks like she has a fanny like a KFC bucket, with as much grease and batter spilling out of it aswell) its not looking good.

Dizzee Rascal is one guy I'd give a pass and an exception to. He was always an experimental type of guy and he has crossed over with a few dance tracks that are genuinely superb songs (I really don't care what you think, "Bonkers" truly was the british national anthem in 2009). He's done it the right way and kept his roots intact along with it.

Sway needs to do the same. Sort it out mate! And Donea'o...you're better than this aswell.

Sunday, 9 May 2010

So, a small step back in time today. September 2004. 5 and a half years ago roughly. UK hip-hop magazine HHC released a compilation in conjunction with Radio 1Xtra and one of their biggest DJs at the time DJ Excalibah featuring the names of many emcees and artists coming up, ready to bubble over and erupt on the UK rap scene.

I have to say, most of them really did, and this CD represents some of the earlier work of all artists at the time on their way to success. To be honest, quite a few of them were already established as names to watch out for, as by the time this was released Klashnekoff had already made waves with Daggo Mentality, Foreign Beggars had already released their breakthrough SMASH with Skinnyman "Hold On" and a few other names on there were featured with more experienced heads like Konny Kon and Lewis Parker.

A certain Sway Dasafo features on here before he dropped the surname along with at the time a new producer called The Last Skeptik, who of course has gone on to bigger and better things also. The cd also features a song which has since become a bit of a UK classic in "For The Haters" by Dirty Diggers.

Enjoy the selection and check out where all of these artists are now, many of them achieving at the very least national fame with their material.

Another HHC release featuring young and upcoming UK artists on the scene followed in 2005, with the cd entitled 1Xtra Homegrown Cuts 2005. Amongst others this compilation featured Humurak D Gritty, Phoenix Black and Shade One.

The artists on show have been a bit less noticeable as those in the DJ Excalibah mixed release, but the cd itself is nonetheless entertaining throughout and adept at showcasing some lesser known names, in turn aiding them to get their deserved shine. Enjoy.

Saturday, 1 May 2010

So here's the second instalment of the NA mixtapes series. Just another collection of songs I made back in the day (I wish I could be more specific than that but to be honest, I really can't). A bit of everything here, but its in similar vein to the first compilation from what I can see so enjoy it.